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Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire is a Italian kingdom centered around the fortress city of Constantinople, and spreading across the Turkish region. Once a part of the Roman Empire they have become arguably more powerful then their original Empire as they have been led affectively and expanded quite steadily since they were founded. Originally formed and governed by nobility from the Roman Empire. The two took part in a civil war which ended with Rome being pushed out of the Roman Asian Provinces. With the Roman Empire gone, the aristocrats from Rome that had taken part in the rebellion swiftly took control under the royal family of Constantine. This dynasty known as the Constantines came to dominate the capital of Constantine and from here they expanded to a larger area around the capital. At first they grew quickly because of the behavior their first Emperor had towards the Turkish which allowed them to take control of the regions dominated by the Turkish with little fight. Following this they would expand into Greece by taking control of this Roman Empire colony in the Battle of Greece. The Romans would flood troops into the region but they would be defeated at the climax of the conflict leading to the control of Greece by Byzantine. The Empire of Byzantine has grown from being nothing more then Sparta on Greece, and a few miles east of Constantinople to its current state where it controls much of Anatolia, and is also expanding westward into the lands of Croatia. The Empire of Byzantine has also expanded into the Mediterranean with the control they now have over the several client states there of which most noticeable is the Kingdom of Cyprus, and the Kingdom of Crete. The Lands of Byzantine are spread between the Italian sections of the capital, and the province of Greece, and the eastern half of the Empire which is dominated by the Ostrogoths and the Turks. The Byzantine Empire is utterly dominated by the Italians of whom founded the capital of Constantinople and have grown immensely in number inside this city, and to the west of the city. There is a larger number of Ostrogoths of whom constitute over thirty percent of the population of whom were brought into the Byzantine Empire by racist Italians who wanted to supplement the Turks with Ostrogoths as they were Germanic and thus more acceptable for the Italians. The native Turks have declined from a high population of somewhere around ninety nine percent all the way down to their current fifty five percent and they are still declining due to emigration, genocide, and faster growth in other groups. Following the Conflict with Nehekhara a large number of Armenians are now inside the northeastern section of Byzantine and they are treated as enemies of the state by the Ostrogoth's that dominate the military in this region. Geography Geography in the Byzantine Empire is one of the most important aspects of the entire Empire. The geography of the Byzantine Empire includes the eastern half of the Roman Empire, which consists of parts of North Africa, Greece, Italy, and even some territory in the Middle East. Geography had a large impact on the Byzantine Empire, for Byzantium is right alongside the Bosphorus River, the Black Sea, and the crossroads between Europe, Africa, and Asia. They may not seem relevant; however the geography in the Byzantine Empire effects the lives of many Byzantines. Because Constantinople was directly on the cross-roads between Asia, Africa, and Europe, wealth and riches were constantly flowing through the markets. Many of these exotic items can be found in only some places in the world, making them worth even more. Numerous trade routes, including the Silk Road run through Constantinople. All trade from Europe runs into Constantinople where it then moves east along the silk road eastward. Even the High Elves have come to trade in the port as they find it far easier to trade with then traversing the entirety of the world by going beneath Africanas. Accessibility to these items made people and the government very rich. No other market in all of Europe has such valuable goods, and merchandise, which is precisely the meaning why Constantinople, and its market should be a must see on your trip. 'History' Early History ' ' The Byzantine Empire was founded originally by the Roman Empire during the expansionist era of the Hardian Emperor. The province basically consisted of a city in the form of Constantinople , and then large tracts of farm land to the west. The original goal of Hadrian was to place the city of Constantinople into a sort of position of being a satelite capital of Rome. In order to achieve the kind of buerocracy nessessary to facilitate this kind of power base, Hadrian had many of the aristocrats, and generals from Rome that were loyal to him sent to the city of Constantinople. Civil War Main Article : The Roman Civil War The Roman Civil War would be an event that would dramatically change the landscape of Croatia , and in this way the entirety of Europe. The Roman Empire was extremely centralized in Italy, and this began to upset many of the provinces in the Empire. This was especially true in the province of Constantinople where under Hadrian many aristocrats and leading thinkers in Rome had been transplanted. Under the rule of the powerful family Gregorian, who renamed themselves the Constantines. The Constantines were itching for more power, and as the tide of war begin to grow in the Roman Empire following the rebellions in Hispania, the Constantines saw their oppurtunity. The Italians that now populated the massive city of Constantinople were one such group, and when the civil war first erupted in Hispania the Constantines would jump on board and launch their own rebelion. Constantine I. The first Emperor of the unified and independant Byzantine Empire, was Alexi Constantine I. Under Alexi's reign the Empire focused on internal issues, of which the main focus appeared to be the demographics. The Italians were once a very small minority in the area now controlled by the Byzantines. This began to change as Constantine I took a very pro-Italian stance towards the people. This situation nearly led to the majority group in the Turks rebelling against the Byzantines, but as the Italians luck would have it this was nearing the time of a later germanic migration. Ostrogoths The Ostrogoths were an offshoot group of Goths that had moved south east as opposed to moving towards Hispania or Rome. This eventually led them to Croatia where they had a lot of trouble with the local populations of which mainly this was Tilea. In Tilea the large group of Ostrogoths came under the sway of several large Ostrogoths houses of whome instigated a mass growth of Ostrogoths to them in Tilea. As their numbers reached into the hundreds of thousands they became the object of attacks from local Tilean forces and this would reach such a level that they retreated out of Tilea south where they would end up in the Byzantine province of Bulgaria. In the Ostrogoths Constantine I. saw an oppurtunity to resettle a large population of people that in appearance were quite close to the Italians. Constantine offered them residence in the eastern section of Byzantine called Anatolia. As he offered this to the Ostrogoths they were settling outside the city of Adrianople where the local mayor of the town was sending constant reports to Constantine about his fear of the massive horde of Ostrogoths outside his walls. The local mayor was preparing to assemble and army when Constantine arrived at the head of a large Byzantine force of which the Ostrogoths prepared to fight against the Byzantines but instead Constantine rode into the outskirts of their camp and met with the leaders of the Ostrogoths. Constantine made them very much aware of his hatred of the Turks and he wanted the Ostrogoths to settle in Anitolia and become the dominent group there. Conflict When the Ostrogoths arrived in Anatolia they were treated like kings by the ruling Italian elite, and they were quickly placed into positions of power in the regions. The Constantine Dynasty placed a huge amount of money in investments that would build up a large number of villages, towns and forts that would be settled by these Ostrogoths and also they set up training camps for the men of the Ostrogoths so that they would nearly instantly become a part of the Byzantine Army. Throught the work of the Bereau of Barbarians of whome made huge operations where they hired groups of Turks who would attack Ostrogoths and insight fear. As this continued to escalate they made the Italians appear to be their best friends when they mobilized a large force and defended the Ostrogoths, and after this the Bereau stopped the attacks and made it look like it was the Italians were the ones that stopped it. At the same time in order to make sure the two sides did not speak to eachother the Bereau did similar things to the Turks so that they would turn against the Ostrogoths and thus create hopefully a permenent conflict between the two groups. This system worked out brilliantly and at the time of Constantine I. death the two groups were nearly up in arms against eachother. Constantine II. If the turks had any hope it would be that Marcus Constantine II. would move away from the pro-Italian movement and instead preach harmony. This didn't happen and instead he moved closer to the movement and began also adding the Ostrogoths as the only non-Italians favored in the Empire. Constantine III. Constantine IV "The East is mine. The west is mine too. Before I'm done the whole world will know my name." -Constantine IV. Expansion When Constantine IV took power there was a general sence that this man was someone who was very expansionist, and almost an extreme nationalist in his leanings. For the powers in Constantinople this was great, as they always wanted more. But when he did come to power and was in place for good, the nobles of Constantinople begin to realize that they were dealing with a very calculating leader, who was extremely charismatic, and intelligent. In his early days he begin several high profile meetings with the powerbases in the Empire in an attempt to galvanize support for the campaigns he was planning to undertake. For thos being met with it became clear that you were either with him, or very much against him. He proved this point when he had the third most powerful house in Constantinople completely destroyed after they were involved in a plot against him. With this action it became clear what he was capable of and the rest of the nobles fell quickly into line. With his powerbase under control, he went about planning for his expansion into the surrounding regions. Constantines desire to expand the Empire led him to many expansionary strategies, of which the first stage of which was the control of the eastern Mederateranian. Westward In order to do this he went about campaigns against the Greeks and the Bulgarians. In only 2 years he pacified greece and expanded his holdings in Bulgaria. The Islands His next step was to get Cyprus and Crete into his realm of control along with Rhodes. Constantine sent his greatest servent Basil Arygros to Cyprus in the hopes of creating the annexation without any bloodshed. When Basil arrived on the island he was greeted by the entire nobility of Cyprus, and before he had a chance to even offer terms the King bid Basil to tell his Emperor that he would be coming to Constantinople to discuss things. The Kingdom of Cyprus was already close with Byzantine and greatly feared the Nehekhara so it agreed to an alliance that made them a nearly independant nation. Crete quickly as well saw an advantage to joining up with Byzantine after the quick fall of Greece left them very exposed. Rhodes held onto its independance and for its resistence the Byzantines launched a massive armada to the small island and quickly overwhelmed them. With their defeat the Byzantines brought in Houses from there expansion territores who would rule over rhodes. In this way they rewarded their allies and at the same time destroyed the Rhodes Elite. 'Eastward' Nehekhara is without a doubt one of the largest empires in the entire world, and its size provides it one significant weakness. Because of its size it has such long borders that it can be easy to miss when one border is getting hot. 'Peace' With the Armenians greatly damaged, and the garrison units on the Byzantine border in tatters the Sultan decided that he needed time to deal with the Indians, and Lahmians before he could do anything about the Byzantines. With the extreme position of advantage being in the Byzantine court they asked for a kings ransom in gold and materials in order to stop there advance. With no choice the Sultan agreed and gave the Byzantines everything they asked for. Post Peace At present there is a slight pause in the eastern expansion following the peace treaty between Byzantine and Nehekhara. While this is going on the Byzantines are expanding themselves in Greece, and Bulgaria and are massively fortifying themselves in Anatolia in preperation for the next war with Nehekhara . Demographics Ethnicity The Byzantine Empire is utterly dominated by the Italians of whom founded the capital of Constantinople and have grown immensely in number inside this city, and to the west of the city. Even with this domination they only constitute about ten percent of the population of the Empire but over ninety percent of Constantinople and similar numbers inside the Greece, and Bulgarian province. There is a larger number of Ostrogoths of whom constitute over thirty percent of the population of whom were brought into the Byzantine Empire by racist Italians who wanted to supplement the Turks with Ostrogoths as they were Germanic and thus more acceptable for the Italians. The native Turks have declined from a high population of somewhere around ninety nine percent all the way down to their current fifty five percent and they are still declining due to emigration, genocide, and faster growth in other groups. Following the Conflict with Nehekhara a large number of Armenians are now inside the northeastern section of Byzantine and they are treated as enemies of the state by the Ostrogoth's that dominate the military in this region. Italians The Italians were once a very small minority in the area now controlled by the Byzantines. This began to change as the Emperors of the Byzantine took a very pro-Italian stance towards the people. Each Emperor seemed to pass a law pushing the Italians into higher and higher fovor. This strategy has led to Italians being the majority of the population of Constantinople but their population is not numerous in regions other then Contantinople and Greece. Ostrogoths The Ostrogoths were brought into Anatolia or the eastern region of the Byzantine Empire as a strategy of removing the Turks, and this worked perfectly for the Emperors, Where once the Turks were almost 99% of the population they now constitute less then 40% and that number is declining rapidly Turkish Religion Main Article : Christianity The one place where everyone has similar views inside the Empire of Byzantine is the fact that nearly one hundred percent of the Empire is a Christian. Within this homogeneous grouping are a large number of distinct denominations of which the Italians have founded their own distinct church to separate themselves from the Romans, and this has become known as the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Ostrogoth's have converted on mass to the Eastern Orthodox religion but segments of their population fluctuation between Roman Catholic, and the main Christian branch founded by Jesus in the Protestants. Goverment Main Article : Goverment of Byzantine The Byzantine Empire had a complex system of aristocracy and bureaucracy, which was inherited from the Roman Empire. At the apex of the pyramid stood the Emperor, sole ruler (autokrator) and divinely ordained, but beneath him a multitude of officials and court functionaries operated the administrative machinery of the Byzantine state. In addition, a large number of honorific titles existed, which the Emperor awarded to his subjects or to friendly foreign rulers. Emperor of Byzantine Main Article : Emperor of Byzantine The Emperor of Byzantine of the Basileus is the distinctly single handed leader of the Empire of Byzantine. Basileus (Greek: βασιλεύς ( Byzantine and Modern Greek pronunciation (help·info)), plural βασιλεῖς, basileis) is a Greek term and title that has signified various types of monarchs in history. It is perhaps best known in English as a title used by the Byzantine Emperors, but also has a longer history of use for persons of authority and sovereigns in ancient Greece, as well as for the kings of modern Greece. The female forms are Basílissa, Basíleia, Basilís, or the archaic Basilinna. See Also : Constantine IV Constantine IV. or "Tony Costantine" is the son of Mella, and Julian Constantine III. making him a member of House Constantine, as well as making him the current Emperor of Byzantine. Tony has three siblings in the form of Antonia, Nella, and Jasmine Constantine of which his brother Antonia is a major commander of the Byzantine Army and leads much of the northern army, his sister Nella is a very respected leader of the Byzantine Navy and led them in many raiding missions during the last war, while his sister Jasmine is married to Kurlen Cesario of House Cesario. Tony Constantine is married to his wifeNatashia Constanine of whome he has three children with, and one child with a mistress names Sashiana Joorti. Tony Constantine is a man with great asperations and longs to see the day when the Byzantines control the whole of Turkey. In this belief he has launched a massive expansion of the Empire, and under his reign the Empire has more then doubled in size, while increasing its wealth and military dramatically.Silently Tony is extremely racist and at all possible times will transplant native arabs in favor of the Italiens in his court or expansionary allies such as the Greeks, or the german Ostrogoths This behavior has had a huge effect on the population of the arabs in Turkey with some inside the court suggesting as many as a few hundred thousand may have been killed during the expansion under the guise of war. Other Noteables Menilaus Breetro See Also : Mantilaus Breetro Mantilaus is the overall commander of the Byzantine EmpireArmy in the Greece region, and the leader of the Sicilian Population within the Empire of Byzantine. Mantilaus has become a high ranking military commander, but above this he has been named the governor of the island of Lemnos where he dominated the power structure of this island and its people. Mentilaus Breetro was born in the Italian island of Sicily making him a Sicilian in an Empire that is blantenly Italien. His heritage has never caused a problem as he always portrayed himself as a pureblood Italian with no such Sicilian blood in him. When he arrived in Constantinople he discovered the level of Italian Natanalism that was rampant throughout the city, and he wondered whether he would have a place in such a city. He would join the military of Byzantine and would be sent to the island of Lemnos where he was to put down a rebellion against the Empire which was being led by a group of Sicilian Rebels. When he arrived he would work tirelessly diplomatically with them so that their would be no violence and he was able to do this brilliantly and make himself their leader of sorts. His promotion following this brilliant work would put him in line for the command position during the Invasion of Greece. He was the man that led the Emperor's campaigns against the nation of Athens, and was highly succesful in these actions. He was able to defeat a force sent by Athens against the Spartan city of Halex, and following this victory he fought and won three more victories against the forces of Athens before he finally reached the city, and forced it to surrender to Byzantine. He would be injured during the initial counter-attack by the Romans and thus would be sidelined for the remainder of the Greek campaign but he would heal up on his island holdings of Lemnos and his reputation was in the skies at this point. His victories and overall loyalty has made him into a highly trusted member of royal court of Byzantine. Alberto Angironigi See Also : Alberto Angironigi Alberto Angronogi is the son of Mytare, and Taylen Angronogi, and in his youth became great friends withConstantine IV, and through this friendship he has attained a position in the Empire of Byzantine that is second to only Constantine IV. in power and prestige. Alberto is married to Viva Angronogi who he has two children with. Alberto Angronogi is known for his extreme skill in the art of diplomacy, and in one of his greatest moments he was able to convinse Crete to join theByzantine Empire with little difficulty, or cost. This task has given him a heavy amount of influence amongst the members of the upper court of the Byzantine Empire, and he along with his family have become increasingly well off due to the growing wealth of Alberto Angironigi. Culture Main Article : Culture of Byzantine Byzantine Art Just as the Byzantine Empire represented the political continuation of the Roman Empire, Byzantine art developed out of the art of the Roman Empire, which was itself profoundly influenced by ancient Greek art. Byzantine art never lost sight of this classical heritage. The Byzantine capital, Constantinople, was adorned with a large number of classical sculptures, although they eventually became an object of some puzzlement for its inhabitants. And indeed, the art produced during the Byzantine Empire, although marked by periodic revivals of a classical aesthetic, was above all marked by the development of a new aesthetic. The most salient feature of this new aesthetic was its “abstract,” or anti-naturalistic character. If classical art was marked by the attempt to create representations that mimicked reality as closely as possible, Byzantine art seems to have abandoned this attempt in favor of a more symbolic approach. Byzantine Music Two concepts must be understood if we are to appreciate fully the function of music in Byzantine worship. The first, which retained currency in Greek theological and mystical speculation until the dissolution of the empire, was the belief in the angelic transmission of sacred chant: the assumption that the early Church united men in the prayer of the angelic choirs. This notion is certainly older than the Apocalypse account (Revelations 4:8-11), for the musical function of angels as conceived in the Old Testament is brought out dearly by Isaiah (6:1-4) and Ezekiel (3:12). Most significant in the fact, outlined in Exodus 25, that the pattern for the earthly worship of Israel was derived from heaven. The allusion is perpetuated in the writings of the early Fathers, such as Clement of Rome, Justin, Ignatius of Antioch Athenagoras of Athens and Pseudo-Dionysios the Areopagite. It receives acknowledgement later in the liturgical treatises of Nicolas Kavasilas and Symeon of Thessaloniki (Patrologia Graeca, CL, 368-492 and CLV, 536-699, respectively). Byzantine Clothing he Byzantines liked colour and pattern, and made and exported very richly patterned cloth, especially Byzantine silk, woven and embroidered for the upper classes, and resist-dyed and printed for the lower. A different border or trimming round the edges was very common, and many single stripes down the body or around the upper arm are seen, often denoting class or rank. Taste for the middle and upper classes followed the latest fashions at the Imperial Court. As in the West during the Middle Ages, clothing was very expensive for the poor, who probably wore the same well-worn clothes nearly all the time; this meant in particular that any costume owned by most women needed to fit throughout the full term of a pregnancy. Points of Interest The Empire of Byzantine is massive in more then just geographical size, the Empire also contains many settlements. The following are some noteable ones. Cities Constantinople See Also : Constantinople Constantinople is the capital of the Byzantine Empire, and one of the largest cities in the world. Located on the straits of Basberus the city lies in both Asia, and Europe making it an extremely unique city in this way. Originally constructed and planned as a fortress city to base the Roman eastward expansion on, Constantantinople became a bustling town, and then capital of the Byzantine Empire. Originally founded by Byzantine Constantine the city would forever after this founding be shaped by the Constantine Dynasty of whom would both name the city after themselves and begin the process of building a power base from the city of Constantinople. When it became clear that the Romans were weak the Constantine Dynasty moved with their allies and declared the city of Constantinople as the new capital of the Empire of Byzantine and would expand massively from their capital into the outreaches of Turkey. As capital of the Byzantine Empire, the city is the center of the entire leadership of the Empire, and in this way if you want to be someone of consequence its always said that at some point you have to conquer the politics of Constantinople. Their is the massive academy of Lucian where the leaders of the Byzantine Empire are trained and then they are transplanted to the areas that they will lead. Unlike the other sections of the Byzantine Empire the capital of Constantinople is extremely homogeneous in that the city is nearly ninety six percent Italians. The policies of the city are such that it is difficult if not impossible for non-Italians to be able to find jobs in the city and for this reason there is very little population of non-Italians in the city. Of the four remaining percent the population is mainly split between ruling Ostrogoth's, Bulgarians, and Greeks of whom the Italians tolerate due to their need for their continued obedience. Adrianople See Also : Adrianople Adrianople is a massive Bulgarian city located within the Western Byzantine province of Bulgaria. The city is the largest population of Bulgarians and the center of the Bulgarian people`s culture, and society throughout Europe. Adrianople is located in central Bulgaria along the important Blion River where it has controlled the transit across Bulgaria into the Constantinople. The River itself is not extremely wide and the city stretches over both sides, but the city is a definite choke point for anyone wanting to cross. This location means that it is heavily defended by the forces of Byzantine and has become heavily fortified on both sides of the river. Adrianople was founded by the Bulgarians during the Migration of the Slavs during their version of the Great Migration. While the Bulgarians split off from their Serbian relatives and went further south they would first land in the region of Tilea where they attempted to set down roots. There time in Tilea ended when the ruling Romanians would push them out of their lands and force them further south into their current region of Bulgaria where they would name the region after themselves. Towns Forts Unique Spots Foreign Relations Main Article : Byzantine Diplomacy Byzantine diplomacy drew its neighbors into a network of international and interstate relations, controlled by the empire itself. This process revolved around treaty making. Byzantine historian Evangelos Chrysos postulates a three-layered process at work: 1) the new ruler was welcomed into the family of kings, 2) there was an assimilation of Byzantine social attitudes and values, 3) as a formalization of the second layer of the process, there were laws Roman Empire Kingdom of Cyprus The Kingdom of Cyprus and Byzantines have always had a good trading relationship, and communicated quite positively for their history. Cyprus was basically annexed by the Byzantines during the reign of Constantine IV. and now sits in a position of great favor among the provinces. Nehekhara The two sides had a frosty relationship for most of their history, but this changed dramatically with the current Emperor who declared war on the overstretched Nehekhara Empire. Armenia The Byzantines and the Nehekhara client state of Armenia have been at war since the two shared a border. 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